Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement Science Advisor to the Director

Alan D. Thornhill, Ph.D. Biography

In March 2010, Dr. Thornhill was hired as Science Advisor to the Director. From 2001 to 2010, he was the Executive Director of the Society for Conservation Biology—an international society of 12,000 conservation professionals working to advance the science and practice of protecting life on Earth. Previously he was the Director of Learning and Communications for the Science Division for The Nature Conservancy (the global organization), and a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University in Houston, Texas. In his role as the first Executive Director of the Society for Conservation Biology, he launched the executive office, oversaw the development of a professional staff, and initiated programs that saw the global membership triple in seven years. Among the programs under the Society’s leadership is the David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship Program, a two year postdoctoral research grant for outstanding early-career scientists. For the past six years, Dr. Thornhill has taught in the Masters Program in the College of Natural Resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Thornhill earned his Bachelors and Ph.D. degrees in Ecology from the University of California, Irvine.